GIF Search (Tenor API)

Search and download GIFs directly via the Tenor API using curl. No extra tools needed.

Setup

Set your Tenor API key in your environment (add to $ENV_FILE):

TENOR_API_KEY=your_key_here

Get a free API key at https://developers.google.com/tenor/guides/quickstart — the Google Cloud Console Tenor API key is free and has generous rate limits.

Prerequisites

• curl and jq (both standard on macOS/Linux)
• TENOR_API_KEY environment variable

Search for GIFs

# Search and get GIF URLs
curl -s "https://tenor.googleapis.com/v2/search?q=thumbs+up&limit=5&key=${TENOR_API_KEY}" | jq -r '.results[].media_formats.gif.url'
Get smaller/preview versions

curl -s "https://tenor.googleapis.com/v2/search?q=nice+work&limit=3&key=${TENOR_API_KEY}" | jq -r '.results[].media_formats.tinygif.url'

Download a GIF

# Search and download the top result
URL=$(curl -s "https://tenor.googleapis.com/v2/search?q=celebration&limit=1&key=${TENOR_API_KEY}" | jq -r '.results[0].media_formats.gif.url')
curl -sL "$URL" -o celebration.gif

Get Full Metadata

curl -s "https://tenor.googleapis.com/v2/search?q=cat&limit=3&key=${TENOR_API_KEY}" | jq '.results[] | {title: .title, url: .media_formats.gif.url, preview: .media_formats.tinygif.url, dimensions: .media_formats.gif.dims}'

API Parameters

| Parameter | Description |
|-----------|-------------|
| q | Search query (URL-encode spaces as +) |
| limit | Max results (1-50, default 20) |
| key | API key (from $TENOR_API_KEY env var) |
| media_filter | Filter formats: gif, tinygif, mp4, tinymp4, webm |
| contentfilter | Safety: off, low, medium, high |
| locale | Language: en_US, es, fr, etc. |

Available Media Formats

Each result has multiple formats under .media_formats:

| Format | Use case |
|--------|----------|
| gif | Full quality GIF |
| tinygif | Small preview GIF |
| mp4 | Video version (smaller file size) |
| tinymp4 | Small preview video |
| webm | WebM video |
| nanogif | Tiny thumbnail |

Notes

• URL-encode the query: spaces as +, special chars as %XX
• For sending in chat, tinygif URLs are lighter weight
• GIF URLs can be used directly in markdown: !alt